Hills in and around Melbourne.

[Zabriskie19]

Hey guys,
well im 16yo and quite new to cycling well atleast doing rides of 60km+ i only have a flar bat road bike but seem to pass alot of riders when im riding. I ride around melbourne looking for hills or even bumps! but never seem to find any which are really hard to climb Just wondering where the best hills or hill is in melbourne (if any) if not i know there are good hills in victoria could you tell me if the are any close to Melbourne?

oh and btw im happy to spend four or five hours in the saddle if i get a good climbing (leg) workout.

[cleatus]

Hey guys,
well im 16yo and quite new to cycling well atleast doing rides of 60km+ i only have a flar bat road bike but seem to pass alot of riders when im riding. I ride around melbourne looking for hills or even bumps! but never seem to find any which are really hard to climb Just wondering where the best hills or hill is in melbourne (if any) if not i know there are good hills in victoria could you tell me if the are any close to Melbourne?

oh and btw im happy to spend four or five hours in the saddle if i get a good climbing (leg) workout.

Quite new to cycling eh? ..... welcome

What area of Melbourne do you normally ride in? The reason I ask is that the hills you seek could depend on your location.

For hills a bit closer to the CBD you could check out the route the Thursday night "Alpine tour of the suburbs" takes.
Can't put fancy url's in yet but a bikely link is http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Al ... he-suburbs.
There is also the Kew boulevard which has some good rolling hills and is almost in the city!
More good hills in the outer suburbs and are found around Eltham,Diamond Creek and Warrandyte. Again bikely will show you good routes if you search.

Furthur afield you have Kinglake to the North,Dandenongs to the East and even Mt Macedon to the North West. These will all take some riding to get to if you live in the inner city.

Rest of Victoria. Stacks...... check out www.cyclingprofiles.com.au. You can search by Melbourne/Alpine region for climbs. Good luck having a go on some of them and let us know how you go. I find climbing addictive myself. Nothing like the satisfaction of a big climb.

[Zabriskie19]

Wow, thanks a tonne cleatus.

just checked out the mountains in Dandenong and marysville on google earth they look pretty tough rising above 1000m , but nothing like a challenge bit of a ride from Williamstown but guess i can take the train part of the way their. might head to kew and Warrandyte this weekend and ride around their for a bit. bit a of practice i guess for later in the holidays i might head over to marysville for a big day in the hills and Mt. macadon looks pretty good aswell only 65km from my place.

[cleatus]

Wow, thanks a tone cleatus.

just checked out the mountains in Dandenong and marysville on google earth they look pretty tough rising above 1000m , but nothing like a challenge bit of a ride from Williamstown but guess i can take the train part of the way their. might head to kew and Warrandyte this weekend and ride around their for a bit. bit a of practice i guess for later in the holidays i might head over to marysville for a big day in the hills and Mt. macadon looks pretty good aswell only 65km from my place.

That's the way. If you are travelling by public transport for some portion of the distance could I recommend catching the suburban train to Lilydale. Only 50 odd k's to one of the best climbs out of Melbourne ---- Donna Buang. 16 and half k's at an average of 6.2%. If you don't want to put up with road traffic on the way out you can take the scenic Lilydale to Warburton rail trail which is fine for road bike tyres.

From WIlliamstown, Mt Macedon is another real option. You could catch a train to Gisborne and tackle Macedon from both sides and many of the great rolling hills around that area as well. The old Calder hwy between Gisborne and Woodend is a nice warmup as well and relatively car free.

Thought of a another one. Check out Wildwood which is just north of Tullamarine airport.(Again check out www.cyclingprofiles.com.au) The climbs are shortish but there are a few brutal ones in there.(Hey... it's my local area. )

Just one word or caution about Donna Buang or Lake Mountain (if you go to Marysville). We are just coming out of winter so carefully take note of the weather.
It might be warmish downhill but can quickly get very cold up higher, not to mention inclement road conditions such as black ice etc. Take appropriate warm gear for the descents and scope out potential trouble spots when you are going up.

[Zabriskie19]

Again, thankyou Cleatus. I've loved your help, thank you very much!

[rkelsen]

The road from St. Andrews to Kinglake is a good climb. It's only 13km, but last time I did it (last Sunday), it took me 50 mins.

[sixx]

[cleatus]

The road from St. Andrews to Kinglake is a good climb. It's only 13km, but last time I did it (last Sunday), it took me 50 mins.

Sounds like the Degani ride. I read your post a few topics down. Did you enjoy the day? I did it last year and the final downhill was down the old Humevale road.
Very potholed, but I noticed this year they let people down the main road from Kinglake West. Did you fly down?

Nice photo! Is that Macedon looking at the North side or am I wayyyyy off the mark?

[sixx]

Yeah mate you have got me searching the area.
Never been anywhere near it on a bike, but I like it out there. Awesome in Autumn.
I figured if I rode out there from my joint, I'd probably drop dead on the spot at the foot of the climb.

Plotting, plotting .... hmmm ...

[damhooligan]

and if you wanna stay west , you can always go to the you yangs.

O.k. , it may not be a long or hard climb, but you can do loops and loops and loops.
And it's good for the variation....

[rkelsen]

Sounds like the Degani ride. I read your post a few topics down. Did you enjoy the day? I did it last year and the final downhill was down the old Humevale road.
Very potholed, but I noticed this year they let people down the main road from Kinglake West. Did you fly down?

Loved it. A few of us from work are talking about riding that exact circuit as a regular training ride.

Yes, I flew down... gravity favours the fat on those long downhill sections.

[cleatus]

So Zabriskie19,
What hills have you climbed so far and more importantly, where are the ride reports?

[Zabriskie19]

haha um no real ones yet , been out to kew about four times quite good their up and down for about three or four km's. not that hard though because their really only small rolling hills so i do them each four times or so. so unfortunately no real hills these holidays yet, but have been riding about 300km a week of late so that's good. hoping to head out to the dandenongs for a day trip either this weekend or next . might climb the 1/20 looks good a rider like me ( 1.85cm 70kg) and then maybe one of the harder climbs their. i think im looking for a longer climb rather than a steep one any suggestions?

[cleatus]

haha um no real ones yet , been out to kew about four times quite good their up and down for about three or four km's. not that hard though because their really only small rolling hills so i do them each four times or so. so unfortunately no real hills these holidays yet, but have been riding about 300km a week of late so that's good. hoping to head out to the dandenongs for a day trip either this weekend or next . might climb the 1/20 looks good a rider like me ( 1.85cm 70kg) and then maybe one of the harder climbs their. i think im looking for a longer climb rather than a steep one any suggestions?

Yes the boulie is only rolling hills but still good for a few laps. Did you try the quick little climb up Walmer st? It's really short but quite steep.
The Dandenongs would make a great day trip. None of the well known climbs are that long in length so if you are looking for something a bit longer why not put them all together for the famous Crucifix!. Roughly 2000 metres climbing over 60kms! You wouldn't necessarily have to do all the climbs if you didn't feel like it (and this has got some serious climbing in it) but that bikely map should give you an idea of where they are. The bikely cue sheet will give you their names. Happy hunting!

[il padrone]

Get yourself out to Warburton and ride Mt Donna Buang. George Mallory's grandson set it as a target for him to be ready to climb Mt Everest - to be able to ride up and down Mt Donna Buang five times in one day (That would add up to ~5500m of climbing in 160kms)

[Focusfire]

Whittlesea to Kinglake to St Andrews and back has a couple of pretty nice climbs. Not exactly TdF climbs but still challenging IMO!